While most football glory rests primarily with strikers or midfielders, every club’s history includes legendary defenders whose names are almost sacred to fans. Of course, there are such players in Arsenal’s 130-plus year history.
Leave aside the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries for now. Still, that leaves us with a long 100 years to focus on, and we have attempted to find the top ten defenders who have worn the London club’s jersey with the cannon in their emblem during that period.
If the footballer in question continued to play after 2000, it was essential to us that the more significant part of his career fell within the last century. You will find these memorable players in the following chapters.
On the exact day he turned seventeen, Sammy Nelson signed for Arsenal. He initially played on the wing but later moved to the left side of the defence. As well as fifteen seasons at Highbury, he played twelve years with the Northern Ireland national team, amassing 51 starts. He played 339 games for Arsenal, scoring 12 goals.
However, more famous than his footballing skills was one particular moment when Nelson pulled down his shorts and stuck his bare bottom out to the packed stands. The spectators laughed, but members of the English Football Association didn’t find it very funny, so he was banned from playing for two weeks. After leaving Arsenal, he stayed at Brighton for two more seasons, where he also coached for a while, but finally said goodbye to football and threw himself into the insurance business.
Discussion about this post